Method and system for reducing manual review of license plate images for assessing toll charges

Abstract

A tolling system is operable to reduce the number of manual reviews of a toll point images needed to process toll fee charges by separately reporting from both toll points and mobile device in vehicles running a tolling application program the lane and crossing time when traversing a toll point. A tolling service can match records produced by the toll points with records providing by the mobile device when the toll point cannot immediately determine the identity of the toll customer passing through the toll point.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for avoiding manual image review to determine an identity of a toll subscriber, comprising:
 by a mobile device associated with a vehicle:
 determining, based on a location of the mobile device, that the vehicle has entered a local geofenced zone of a tolling location on a toll roadway; 
 responsive to determining that the vehicle has entered the local geofenced zone, determining a geofenced lane in which the vehicle is traveling; 
 determining a time, based on a location determination by the mobile device while in the geofenced lane, at which the vehicle crosses an imaging location in the geofenced lane; and 
 transmitting to a tolling server a message including data indicating the time and lane at which the vehicle crossed the imaging location in the geofenced lane. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 at the tolling server:
 attempting to recognize a license plate in an image taken by a toll camera at the tolling location of the imaging location at the time, and failing to recognize the license plate in the image; 
 correlating the data in the message sent by the mobile device with the image taken by the toll camera; and 
 determining, based on the time and location, that license plate belongs to the vehicle associated with the mobile device. 
 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , further comprising assessing a toll to an account associated with the vehicle. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the time, based on location determination by the mobile device while in the geofenced lane comprises:
 in response to determining that the vehicle is in the geofenced lane, increasing a rate at which location determinations are made; 
 performing a plurality of location determinations at the increased rate while in the geofenced lane; 
 determining one of the plurality of location determinations to be a location closest to the imaging location; 
 determining a time offset based on a speed of the vehicle and a distance between the location of the one of the plurality of location determinations and the imaging location; and 
 applying the time offset to the time at which the one of the plurality of location determinations was made. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the geofenced lane in which the vehicle is traveling comprises sensing lateral acceleration changes to detect one or more lane changes. 
     
     
       6. A method for reducing the need for automatic license plate recognition at a tolling location, comprising:
 failing to receive a toll transponder response at a toll reader of a tolling location upon a vehicle passing through the tolling location; 
 receiving, at a server of a toll agency from a plurality of mobile device, a plurality of toll event log messages indicating a time and lane location of passing through the tolling location; 
 responsive to failing to receive the toll transponder response, determining that one of the plurality of toll event log messages includes a corresponding lane location and time value matching that of the vehicle passing through the tolling location; and 
 assessing a toll to an account associated with the vehicle. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 capturing an image of the vehicle at the tolling location; 
 responsive to failing to receive the toll transponder response, attempting to recognize a license tag number in the image to compare the license tag number with a whitelist of toll accounts; and 
 determining that the license tag number cannot be completely recognized. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein capturing the image is performed using one camera that covers a plurality of toll lanes at the tolling location. 
     
     
       9. A method, comprising:
 performing a plurality of location determinations by a mobile device at a first rate, wherein each one of the plurality of location determinations indicates a location of the mobile device at a time at which the location determination was made; 
 determining, by the mobile device, based on at least one of the plurality of location determinations, that the mobile device has entered a local geofenced zone of a tolling location on a toll roadway; 
 responsive to determining that the mobile device has entered the local geofenced zone of the tolling location, the mobile device increasing the rate at which location determinations are made by the mobile device to a second rate, and determining, by the mobile device based on the location determinations, a geofenced lane in which the mobile device is located; 
 determining a time, by the mobile device, based on the one or more location determinations made by the mobile device while in the geofenced lane, at which the mobile device crosses an imaging location in the geofenced lane; and 
 transmitting to a tolling server a message including data indicating the time and lane at which the mobile device crossed the imaging location in the geofenced lane. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 at the tolling server:
 attempting to recognize a license plate in an image taken by a toll camera at the tolling location of the imaging location at the time, and failing to recognize the license plate in the image; 
 correlating the data in the message sent by the mobile device with the image taken by the toll camera; and 
 
 determining, based on the time and location, that license plate belongs to a vehicle associated with the mobile device. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , further comprising assessing a toll to an account associated with the vehicle. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining the geofenced lane in which the vehicle is traveling comprises sensing lateral acceleration changes to detect one or more lane changes. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining the time at which the mobile device crosses an imaging location in the geofenced lane, based on location determination by the mobile device while in the geofenced lane comprises:
 in response to determining the geofenced lane, increasing a rate at which location determinations are made; 
 performing a plurality of location determinations at the increased rate while in the geofenced lane; 
 determining one of the plurality of location determinations to be a location closest to the imaging location; 
 determining a time offset based on a speed of the vehicle and a distance between the location of the one of the plurality of location determinations and the imaging location; and 
 applying the time offset to the time at which the one of the plurality of location determinations was made.